who has no idea how to maximize his players strengths. As great as Rose has been this season, I still believe Vinny is holding back his development and others as well. Whatever success the Bulls have had would have been achieved under any number of other, more qualified coaches. YaoPau hit it on the head when he said since the Bulls intent always was to move these 2 players, they should have done it last year when their trade values were higher. It didn’t help that both were maligned by their own management this season.

Fish has averaged 20.6 ppg since joining the Bucks. Tyrus has hit 13 of 16 his last 2 games with one a wild 30 foot fling as the game was ending. It appears the Bulls dumped him just as he was finding his groove, as evidenced by his converting 67 of his last 104 a very impressive 60.6% since 12/20 after starting the season with 48 of 116 (41.0%). He is also the league leader in blocks and steals among power forwards per minutes played. No other player in the league regardless of position is in the top 40 in both categories per minutes played. Is it possible he can be developed? Is this why some in Charlotte call him TyrusUnlimitedPotential.Com?

I know a 5 game sample is hardly a basis for much of anything, however one stat really stands out. Tyrus’s Orating is 108 while his Drating is 93, which is an amazing difference when you consider the Bobcats are 2 and 3 during this stretch. No wonder Larry Brown has had Thomas play every minute of the 4th quarter in each game while our lamebrain coach convinced himself Tyrus’s presence would be a disaster. If it was true, than his so-called system should be condemned for its lack of flexibility.

I don’t want to take a slap at Gibson but I still don’t understand why so many go ga ga over him. I recorded the Indiana game on my DVR, watching it when I returned from the theatre with my wife. After seeing all the gory details, I couldn’t decide which was the biggest horror show, the way the Pacer’s dominated the paint and got open looks all night with crisp passing and ball movement or the "Wolfman" film we saw. Upon further review, I’d have to say the Bulls game was much scarier than the movie especially when I realize Vinny can coach like this without a full moon.

Pargo and his quick trigger finger got much of the blame for firing up so many shots and recording only one assist in 29 minutes. I would ask why after warming the end of the bench all season, Vinny had him out there so long with his sometimes 4 guard offense? Do you think the Bulls are going to miss Fish, shades of Ben Gordon?

Old reliable, heady veteran Kirk had only 4 points and 2 assists in 41 minutes, while our new addition, Flip Murray had only 2 free throws and zero assists in 19 minutes. Rose was our only offensive threat with his 27 point barrage while being doubled the entire game. Deng gave his all, pulling down 18 rebounds. No wonder he had trouble with his shot. Exhaustion will do that.

Miller got a lot of the blame for the Bulls woeful defense, but anyone honestly reviewing the tape can see who was the worst sieve all evening. I know some of you will say it’s just sour grapes coming from me but the Pacers feasted on Taj Gibson every chance they got running play after play through whoever he was attempting to guard. He was constantly out of position, missing rotations and getting caught up in screens so whoever he was assigned to, abused him time and time again.

When guarding Murphy, he either scored or found someone open for an easy assist. He was totally lost trying to stop Granger and then was overwhelmed by Hibbard. Whoever Gibson guarded was the first option as the Pacers continually torched him. It’s laughable that Tyrus was always accused of being out of position or failing to rotate. He would have been crucified by some on this blog if he ever had a game like that. If Noah doesn’t soon recover, and Gibson is our main line of defense, the Bulls are going to be in deep trouble against the stronger teams, in spite of what the media wants us to believe. Warrick is even worse although Taj was the main culprit last night.

Finally, I think this game once again exposed Vinny’s lack of coaching smarts. They say the players like him because he just rolls the ball out and lets them play. During time outs he had the deer in the headlights look with his assistants doing most of the talking. He must have seen the Pargo experiment was failing yet he didn’t budge. How much of the Bulls success this year is a result of his leadership rather than just having experienced players like Rose, Noah, Deng, and even Kirk and Brad? The Pacers looked like the Globetrotters with their passing while the Bulls (Rose excluded) resembled the Washington Generals with their lack of plays as evidenced by their having only 14 assists.

I know these back-to-backs are killers and fatigue played a big role, but it doesn’t excuse Vinny’s brain cramps and with some rest, I hope they can bounce back quickly, because the Bucks are closing fast. especially with their new high scoring addition adding a spark.